Pallet structure and method of forming the same

ABSTRACT

The embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is formed of a planar member which comprises the load receiving support plate of a pallet. The planar member has a plurality of apertures arranged in rows and columns and the struck-out portions obtained when forming the apertures are gathered and secured together and are then used in groups for legs. The corner portions and central marginal portions as well as the center of the planar member are free of apertures and the support legs are secured thereto for the pallet structure. These support legs are then secured to the planar member in alignment with the rows and columns formed by the apertures so that stacking of the pallets is accomplished by inserting the legs of one pallet into the holes of an adjacent pallet. Removable stand offs can be formed from the struck-out portion to provide additional legs or removable main support legs.

United States Patent 1 1 Saidel [4 Feb. 25, 1975 1 1 PALLET STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME 21 Appl. N0.2 408,615

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Sel'. No. 239,682, March 30,

1972, abandoned.

[52] U.S. Cl. 108/55,}108/51 [51] Int. Cl. B65d 19/00, B65d 19/44 [58] Field of Search 229/D1G. 11, 6 A; 206/60 A, 65; 108/5191, 51, 55

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1.917.506 7/1933 Deline 229/6 A 2,409,027 10/1946 Fergusson... 108/91 2,623,633 12/1952 Bladow 108/91 3,393,855 7/1968 Heel "229/6 A FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 732.022 4/1966 Canada 108/53 619,251 5/1961 Canada 229/D1G. 11 458.830 10/1913 France 108/91 356,250 9/1961 Switzerland 108/91 Primary Examiner-Paul R. Gilliam Assistant ExaminerAndrew M. Calvert Attorney, Agent, or FirmOlson., Trexler, Wolters, Bushnell & Fosse, Ltd.

[57] ABSTRACT The embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is formed of a planar member which comprises the load receiving support plate of a pallet. The planar member has a plurality of apertures arranged in rows and columns and the struck-out portions obtained when forming the apertures are gathered and secured together and are then used in groups for legs. The corner portions and central marginal portions as well as the center of the planar member are free of apertures and the support legs are secured thereto for the pallet structure. These support legs are then secured to the planar member in alignment with the rows and columns formed by the apertures so that stacking of the pallets is accomplished by inserting the legs of one pallet into the holes of an adjacent pallet. Removable stand offs can be formed from the struck-out portion to provide additional legs or removable main support legs.

9 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures PAlfmwfmzsms sum 2 or 4 Q Q 0 G02? Q 0 0 00000000 9 0000000 00 00 0000000 @0002000? 0 02A? G 0 G 00 10 J QQGQQ 00%000w,

PALLET STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 239,682, filed Mar. 30, 1972, now abandoned.

The present invention relates generally to load carrying pallets and more particularly to a novel strong lightweight nestable pallet structure and method of making the same, which utilizes and thereby eliminates what would otherwise be waste material cut from a blank of stock material.

Pallet structures presently in general use are relatively heavy and bulky. These structures are usually made so that when stacked for storage or shipping, the stack will have a height at least as great as the combined total thicknesses of all of the pallets in the stack. Thus, the weight and space required for such pallets is unnecessarily great so as to increase shipping and storage costs.

Nestable pallet structures have been proposed, but such proposals have usually contemplated the use of hollow members or legs. Such heretofore proposed pallets may not have sufficient strength and rigidity to be useful for many purposes. I

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an important object of the present invention to provide a novel pallet construction which may be simply and economically manufactured from a blank of stock material and which is made so that all of the material of the blank can be used whereby to eliminate waste and provide the final pallet construction with maximum strength and rigidity for a given blank.

It is a further important object of the present invention to provide a novel pallet having legs or support members of increased strength and rigidity while at the same time the pallet is constructed so as to facilitate nesting with a plurality of similar pallets for more compact storing or shipping.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novel pallet formed from a blank of suitable material such as particle board, plywood and the like in a manner to provide both solid legs or support members for increased strength and rigidity and nestability.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide a novel pallet constructed as described above so as to have maximum strength and rigidity by utilizing all material of a given blank and nestability,

and further constructed in a manner such that legs of one pallet may be inserted through apertures formed in an adjacent pallet during nesting or stacking without interfering with the legs of the other pallet.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a novel pallet as set forth in the preceding paragraph which is constructed so that a plurality of the pallets may be stacked as high as desired and in a predetermined symmetrical and uniform pattern which facilitates removal of the pallets from the stack by means of automatic machinery, if desired, for successive delivery of the pallets to a loading station.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel method of manufacturing a pallet of the abovedescribed type in a rapid, efficient and economical manner.

Briefly, the pallet structure of this invention is formed of a blank planar member which provides a load receiving support plate of the pallet. A plurality of uniformly spaced struck-out portions are removed from the pallet thereby leaving behind apertures arranged in rows and columns. This reduces the weight of the support plate. The struck-out portions are then stacked in laminate columns and secured to one side of the support plate to form legs at desired locations also uniformly spaced from the apertures. By so arranging the apertures formed in the planar member and by so positioning the legs on the planar member, the completed pallet structures can be stacked one on top of the other in a minimum of space since the legs of one pallet will telescope into corresponding apertures in the other pallets. Such utilization of the struck-out portions eliminates waste and provides solid legs for maximum strength and rigidity from a given blank.

Many other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be more fully realized and understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals throughout the various views of the drawings are intended to designate similar elements or components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF Til-IE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a pallet constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view showing a leg made from the struck-out portions of the pallet of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates cartons stacked onto pallets of this invention; 3

FIG. 4 illustrates cartons stacked onto pallets of this invention wherein slats are positioned between the pa]- let leg and the carton top;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view showing the arrange ment of apertures formed in the planar member of the pallet;

FIG. 6 is an end view of a plurality of pallets stacked in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 7 is a side view of the stacked pallets of FIG. 6 as taken along line 7--7;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing a slightly modified embodiment;

FIG. 9 is similar to FIG. 8 but shows another modified form of this invention;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a stand off post structure which can be added to the pallet construction of this invention as a detachable unit;

FIG. 11 is a top view of the stand off post of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the stand off post connected through an aperture of the pallet of this invention;

FIG. 13 is a top view of the stand off post and pallet shown in FIG. 12; and

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of an apparatus for carrying out a method of making pallets in accordance with this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1 there is seen a pallet constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention and designated generally by reference numeral 10. The pallet is formed of a planar member 11 having a plurality of downwardly extending legs 12 at predetermined locations on the planar member. A plurality of struckout portions 13, only two of which are shown, are obtained by cutting, punching, sawing, routing, laser rays, or any other means may be used to form a corresponding plurality of apertures 14. The struck-out portions 13 are then arranged in stacks and secured together by glue, nails, or bolt means to form the legs 12. This is best illustrated in FIG. 2 which shows eight such struckout portions 13 stacked together to form the leg 12. It will be noted that the legs 12 are solid for maximum strength and rigidity.

As shown in FIG. 2, the legs 12 may be glued to the pallet board 10. Alternatively or in addition to the glue, fasteners such as nails 15 or bolts may be driven through the board and axially through a plurality of the discs along a substantial length of the legs as shown in FIG. 8. Such nails not only secure the legs to the board, but also protect the legs against breakage in the event the pallet is subjected to side thrusts or shocks during handling or shipping.

Still another leg attachment means is shown in FIG. 9. In this embodiment the leg is formed with a threaded stud 17 at its upper end and the pallet board is formed with a complementary internally threaded aperture 19.

The apertures 14 formed in the planar member 11 are arranged in rows and columns of any desired number. For example, there can be formed a pallet structure having six rows with nine apertures in each and three rows with six apertures in each giving a total of 72 apertures and 72 struck-out portions. Whenthere are nine legs to each pallet the 72 struck-out portions will allow eight discs per leg. If the pallet structure is made from inch thick particle board or plywood material, eight such discs would form a 5 inch high leg. If a shorter leg is satisfactory for a particular use, the number of holes in the planar member can be reduced whereby the strength and rigidity of the planar member will be increased. On the other hand, the pallet structure can be formed having eight rows with nine apertures each and three rows with six apertures each thereby providing a total of 90 holes. This produces 90 struck-out portions so that each leg will be formed of 10 such discs and will be increased in height. For each row of nine apertures formed there will be nine struckout portions. Therefore, one struck-out portion or disc can be added to each leg structure to make it still higher. Any desired number of rows and columns can be incorporated in the pallet structure of this invention as desired as long as the holes are arranged to permit stacking as described in detail below.

Referring now to FIG. 3 two pallet structures 10 are shown supporting a plurality of cartons 16 in a stacked position. A portion of a fork lift 17 is illustrated having the lifting forks thereof inserted beneath the lowermost pallet to raise the pallet to a new position. In this instance the cartons are sufficiently strong and the load relatively light in weight. Therefore, the legs 12 afford sufficient surface area to adequately support the upper pallet weight without crushing the top cartons on the lower pallet.

Referring now to FIG. 4 a plurality of cartons 18 are shown on the pallets 10, these cartons 18 being relatively heavy in weight. When heavy cartons are involved, the legs 12 may tend to crush or pierce through the upper carton on the lower pallet. Therefore, slats 19 are secured to the lower ends of each row of legs 12. This will distribute the weight of the upper pallets more evenly and prevent crushing or other damage to the top cartons of the lower pallets. The slats can be provided separately and then nailed or otherwise secured in place by the pallet user so that the pallets can be shipped or stored in a compact stack as discussed fully below.

Referring to FIG. 5 there is seen the details of construction of the planar member 11. Here the plurality of rows and columns of apertures 14 are shown with the corner portions 20 thereof free of apertures. Also the central marginal portion 21 along each side of the planar member are free of apertures and similarly the center 22 is free of an aperture. Therefore, the legs formed by stacking the discs obtained by the struck-out portions 13 are positioned at these locations, i.e., 20, 2] and 22, so that they are in alignment with the corresponding rows and columns. When a plurality of such pallets are stacked one on top of the other, the legs will fit through certain ones of the apertures of the other pallets to allow the planar member of one pallet to rest completely upon the planar member of the next pallet.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a stack of pallets designated generally by reference numeral 24. Each of the pallets in the stack 24 is designated by a subscript in accordance with its position in the stacks starting with subscript a at the bottom to subscript j at the top of the stack, it being understood that any number of pallets can be stacked in this manner. The pallet 10a is positioned on the floor and the second pallet 10b is positioned over the pallet and displaced forwardly thereof, as seen in FIG. 6, so that some of the legs of the pallet 10b fit through the apertures of the pallet 10a and the legs along one edge extend over the marginal portion of the lower pallet. The positions of the legs of the stacked pallets with respect to pallet 10a are shown by the positions of the subscripts b-j in FIG. 5.

In the preferred arrangement shown in FIGS. 5-7, the stacked pallets are spirally arranged with the legs of units 10b through 10: disposed in a circle around the legs of pallet 10a. Pallet 10 provides the start of a second group and, as shown, is in alignment with pallet 10b. Because the height of the legs is equal to or less than the combined thickness of seven of the pallet planar members, the legs of pallet 10j do not interfere with the lower pallet 10b. Thus, the pattern of stacked pallets may be repeated over and over again, and the stack can be made as high as desired.

The described preferred repeating spiral pattern of the stacked pallets provides a sequential arrangement which will facilitate the use of the pallets in an automatic packaging or material handling system. For example, it is contemplated that apparatus may be provided for feeding the pallets from either the top or bottom of the stack to a station at which the pallets are to be loaded. The preferred stack arrangement simplifies the structure and operation of such feeding apparatus since the successive pallets are substantially uniformly positioned with respect to each other. The preferred arrangement also provides a compact symmetrical stack which is relatively rigid and stable. The pattern of stacking can be varied in certain situations, but in any event the pattern is such that the overall transverse dimensions of the stack exceeds the width and length of the first pallet only by the distance between the holes surrounding the center portion 22 of the first pallet.

Referring now to FIGS. 10, 11, 12, and 13 there is seen a stand off post structure designated generally by reference numeral 30. The stand off post structure 30 can be formed of a plurality of struck-out portions 13 in the same manner as the legs 12 of the pallet. However, a reduced dimension section 31 is placed immediately under the uppermost disc 13 and the uppermost disc is offset from the other discs of the stack as shown. The stand off structure 30 is insertable through an aperture 14 of the planar member 11 so that the reduced dimension portion 31 is in substantial registry with the thickness of the planar member, this being illustrated in FIG. 12. The stand off structure is then rotated so that a portion of the upper disc overlies the web portion between apertures and a portion of the lower disc, that immediately under the reduced dimension portion 31, underlies a diametrically opposed web portion of the aperture so that the stand off member 30 is held firmly in position on the planar member. The stand off members 30 can be attached to the planar member so that they extend upwardly to provide spacing elements for a plate or the like positioned over the pallet. Also the stand off members 30 can be connected to the planar member to form the support legs therefor, this being either additional support legs or forming the primary support legs as desired. When stand off post members 30 are used as the primary support legs, the pallet structures can be stored or shipped by merely stacking the planar members one on top of the other in registry and providing the stand off support members in a separate carton or other container. When the pallet is to be used to support cartons or the like as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the stand off support legs are quickly fastened to the planar members by insertion and partial rotation as described above.

Referring now to FIG. 14, there is schematically shown an apparatus for carrying out one embodiment of the method of the present invention for the production of the pallet construction. In this embodiment, the method starts with providing a supply of planar members 11 in the form of a stack on feeding means 40. The planar members are successively delivered by the feeding means to suitable elongated conveying means 42 which functions' to advance the planar members along a predetermined path of travel. The planar members are successively advanced to a first work station 44 at which is located a sawing mechanism 46 having a plurality of suitably driven annular saws 48 arranged in the same pattern as the apertures which are to be formed in the planar member. When a planar member reaches the work station 44, the sawing mechanism 46 is actuated so that the saws and the planar member are relatively moved together whereupon the saws cut out the discs 13.

It is to be noted that while annular saws 48 of various constructions may be used, each saw will have a blade of substantial thickness which may, for example, be on the order of H16 or Vs inch. The discs 13 therefore have a diameter which is substantially less than the diameter of the apertures 14. When a plurality of the pa]- let constructions are stacked together, this difference in the diameters between the legs 12 formed by the discs 13 and the apertures provides for a substantial clearance which may be on the order of A of an inch between the sides of the legs of one pallet and the edges of the apertures of an associated pallet. This clearance greatly facilitates the manufacturing of the pallet construction since it minimizes the necessity of holding the aperture and leg locations to close tolerances and further facilitates ease of stacking the pallets together and removing the pallets from the stack.

In accordance with the method of the present invention, the struck-0ut portions or discs 13 drop from the planar member as they are cut and are first gathered together in a collector 50 appropriately located adjacent the sawing mechanism. Upon completion of the sawing operation, the planar member is again moved by the conveying means along the path of travel to a second work station 52. In addition, the discs 13 are carried along a conveyor 54 from the collector 50 to a work station 56, preferably adjacent the path of travel of the planar member. The discs are arranged in columns and adhesively or otherwise secured together. This step can be accomplished manually, but preferably suitable means, not shown, are provided at the work station 56 for adhesively securing the discs 13 together and then delivering groups of the discs in the form of legs 12 to conveying means 58.

The legs 12 are directed by the conveying means 58 to the work station 52 at which a distributor mechanism 60 is provided for delivering the desired number of legs in the desired pattern to a planar member 11. At work station 52, the legs are glued, nailed and/or other wise secured to the planar member as previously described. Upon completion of the leg fastening process, the finished pallet is advanced by the conveying means to a suitable discharge station 62.

While it is contemplated that the discs or struck-out portions 13 removed from a particular planar member 11 may be assembled into legs and secured to that particular planar member, it is also contemplated that during the process of manufacturing many pallets, the discs removed from one planar member may well be secured to another planar member, depending upon the time required to assembly the discs into legs as compared, for example, with the time required to advance a planar member to the leg securing station and to assemble and secure the legs at that station. In any event, a major portion if not all of the discs cut from each planar member is used to form the legs to be secured to the pallet construction so that waste is minimized. Furthermore, the overall length of the legs is such that a clearance is provided beneath the pallet planar member for enabling the pallet construction to be readily handled by conventional fork-lift trucks and the like. In other words, it is contemplated that each of the legs will have at least several struck-out portions or discs so that the clearance beneath the planar member will be such as will permit easy entry of the tines of a fork-lift truck. Thus, a large number of struck-out portions is required and while this number is such that a substantial portion of the area of the planar member is removed in the formation of the apertures, a major portion of the area that remains, such for example about to percent, to enhance the structural integrity of the planar member.

While several embodiments of the invention are illustrated herein, it will be understood that other variations and modifications of this invention can be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts disclosed and claimed herein.

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. A pallet construction comprising; a planar member a forming a load receiving support plate for the pallet, a

plurality of apertures formed in said planar member, said apertures positioned in said planar member to be in a first predetermined pattern and to be predetermined distances from one another substantially throughout the entire central portion thereof and presenting a plurality of apertures within and adjacent the periphery of the planar member in a predetermined generally peripheral pattern and leaving discrete imperforate portions adjacent the periphery of the planar member, a plurality of legs secured to said planar member at the said imperforate portions in a second predetermined pattern and extending from one surface thereof, said plurality of legs positioned on said planar member in said second predetermined pattern with certain apertures in the generally peripheral pattern spaced in accordance with the spacing of certain legs allowing said pallet construction to nest with an associated similarly shaped pallet construction with said plurality of legs mating with and inserted into selected aperatures in said peripheral pattern of said associated similarly shaped pallet construction and with said planar member offset with respect to the planar member of said associated similarly shaped pallet construction, said planar member and the planar member of said associated similarly shaped pallet construction being in surface contact with one another when the pallet constructions are stacked together with all the legs projecting in the same direction from surface contacting planar members.

2. The pallet construction according to claim 1, which includes a plurality of struck-out portions obtained from said planar member when forming said apertures, said' struck-out portions being stacked together to form said plurality of legs.

3. The pallet construction according to claim 1 wherein said first predetermined pattern of said plurality of apertures is formed in rows and columns with selected points along said rows and columns being absent of apertures to form said second predetermined pattern for receiving said plurality of legs.

4. The pallet construction according to claim 1, wherein said second predetermined pattern of said plurality of legs includes the corner portions, central marginal portions, and a center portion of said planar member.

5. The pallet construction according to claim 1, further including means for removably fastening said plurality of legs to said planar member for enabling transport of said planar members and said plurality of legs as separate discrete components.

6. The pallet construction according to claim 5 wherein said plurality of apertures formed in said planar member are circular in configuration and said plurality of legs are cylindrical in configuration, each of said legs having a reduced diameter portion formed near the end thereof, said reduced diameter portion having an axial extent equal to the thickness of said planar member to allow insertion of said legs into selected ones of said plurality of apertures, whereby a partial rotation of each of said legs relative to their associated apertures will secure said leg to said planar member.

7. The pallet construction according to claim 1, wherein said first and second patterns are such that certain of said legs extend over a side margin of the associated pallet construction planar member when the pallet constructions are stacked together.

8. A pallet construction comprising a planar member forming a load receiving plate of predetermined thickness and overall area, a plurality of discrete aperture means of predetermined number formed in said planar member in a first predetermined pattern substantially throughout the entire central portion thereof and presenting a plurality of apertures within and adjacent the periphery of the planar member in a predetermined generally peripheral pattern and leaving discrete imperforate portions adjacent the periphery of the planar member, a plurality of solid struck-out portions obtained from a planar member upon the forming of said aperture means, said struck-out portions being stacked in groups comprising at least several of the struck-out portions, each of said groups providing a solid leg, and all of said legs being secured to an underside of said planar member at said imperforate portions in a second predetermined pattern for permissive alignment with certain apertures in said first pattern and insertion therethrough when stacking pallet constructions for storage or shipment with adjacent planar members in surface contact and the solid legs of each planar member offset with respect to the other and projecting in the smae direction therefrom, each of said legs having a length for providing sufficient clearance beneath the planar member to permit entry into the clearance of a fork-lift truck tine or the like during handling or transporting of an individual pallet construction, the total of said struck-out portions used in all of said legs comprising at least a major portion of the number of struck-out portions produced during the forming of all of said aperture means, and said aperture means having a combined area at least equal to a substantial portion of the planar member overall area.

9. A pallet construction comprising a planar member forming a load receiving plate of predetermined thickness, a plurality of discrete aperture means of predetermined number formed in said planar member in a first predetermined pattern substantially throughout the entire central portion thereof and presenting a plurality of apertures within and adjacent the periphery of the planar member in a predetermined generally peripheral pattern and leaving discrete imperforate portions adjacent the periphery of the planar member, a plurality of solid struck-out portions sawed from a planar member upon the forming of said aperture means and having a diameter substantially less than a corresponding diameter of the aperture means, said struck-out portions being stacked in groups comprising at least several of said struck-out portions, each of said groups providing a solid cylindrical leg of generally uniform diameter corresponding to the diameter of said struck-out portions, and all of said legs being secured to an undersize of said planar member in a second predetermined pattern for permissive alignment with certain apertures in said first pattern and insertion therethrough when stacking pallet constructions for storage or shipment with adjacent planar members in surface contact and the solid legs of each planar member offset with respect to the other and projecting in the same dirction therefrom, each of said legs having a length for providing sufficient clearance beneath the planar member to permit entry into the clearance of a fork-lift truck tine or the like during handling or transport of an individual pallet construction, the total of said struck-out portions used in all of said legs equalling at least a major portion of the number of the struck-out portions produced during the forming of all of said aperture means.

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE @ERHHQATE 0F QQRRECTKQN Patent No. 3,867,887 Dated FEBRUARY 25, 1975 Inventor(s) WILLIAM Ra SAIDEL It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Col. 8, line 24, "smae" should be --same-- References: 3,393,852 7/1968 Heel should be 3,393,85 8 7/1968 Heel On title page: Change Inventors address to:

William R. Saidel O 342 7 V0 llmer Road Flossmoor, Illinois 60422 figmd and fieakd this fifth Day of August 1975 [SEAL] Arrest:

QUTM C. MASON C. MARSHALL DANN ittcslinx ()ffl'r (mmnissium'r 0] Parents and Trademarks FORM PO'WSO (mes) USCOMM-DC sows-ps9 n U 5. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE I 959 0-366334, 

1. A pallet construction comprising; a planar member forming a load receiving support plate for the pallet, a plurality of apertures formed in said planar member, said apertures positioned in said planar member to be in a first predetermined pattern and to be predetermined distances from one another substantially throughout the entire central portion thereof and presenting a plurality of apertures within and adjacent the periphery of the planar member in a predetermined generally peripheral pattern and leaving discrete imperforate portions adjacent the periphery of the planar member, a plurality of legs secured to said planar member at the said imperforate portions in a second predetermined pattern and extending from one surface thereof, said plurality of legs positioned on said planar member in said second predetermined pattern with certain apertures in the generally peripheral pattern spaced in accordance with the spacing of certain legs allowing said pallet construction to nest with an associated similarly shaped pallet construction with said plurality of legs mating with and inserted into selected aperatures in said peripheral pattern of said associated similarly shaped pallet construction and with said planar member offset with respect to the planar member of said associated similarly shaped pallet construction, said planar member and the planar member of said associated similarly shaped pallet construction being in surface contact with one another when the pallet constructions are stacked together with all the legs projecting in the same direction from surface contacting planar members.
 2. The pallet construction according to claim 1, which includes a plurality of struck-out portions obtained from said planar member when forming said apertures, said struck-out portions being stacked together to form said plurality of legs.
 3. The pallet construction according to claim 1 wherein said first predetermined pattern of said pluralitY of apertures is formed in rows and columns with selected points along said rows and columns being absent of apertures to form said second predetermined pattern for receiving said plurality of legs.
 4. The pallet construction according to claim 1, wherein said second predetermined pattern of said plurality of legs includes the corner portions, central marginal portions, and a center portion of said planar member.
 5. The pallet construction according to claim 1, further including means for removably fastening said plurality of legs to said planar member for enabling transport of said planar members and said plurality of legs as separate discrete components.
 6. The pallet construction according to claim 5 wherein said plurality of apertures formed in said planar member are circular in configuration and said plurality of legs are cylindrical in configuration, each of said legs having a reduced diameter portion formed near the end thereof, said reduced diameter portion having an axial extent equal to the thickness of said planar member to allow insertion of said legs into selected ones of said plurality of apertures, whereby a partial rotation of each of said legs relative to their associated apertures will secure said leg to said planar member.
 7. The pallet construction according to claim 1, wherein said first and second patterns are such that certain of said legs extend over a side margin of the associated pallet construction planar member when the pallet constructions are stacked together.
 8. A pallet construction comprising a planar member forming a load receiving plate of predetermined thickness and overall area, a plurality of discrete aperture means of predetermined number formed in said planar member in a first predetermined pattern substantially throughout the entire central portion thereof and presenting a plurality of apertures within and adjacent the periphery of the planar member in a predetermined generally peripheral pattern and leaving discrete imperforate portions adjacent the periphery of the planar member, a plurality of solid struck-out portions obtained from a planar member upon the forming of said aperture means, said struck-out portions being stacked in groups comprising at least several of the struck-out portions, each of said groups providing a solid leg, and all of said legs being secured to an underside of said planar member at said imperforate portions in a second predetermined pattern for permissive alignment with certain apertures in said first pattern and insertion therethrough when stacking pallet constructions for storage or shipment with adjacent planar members in surface contact and the solid legs of each planar member offset with respect to the other and projecting in the smae direction therefrom, each of said legs having a length for providing sufficient clearance beneath the planar member to permit entry into the clearance of a fork-lift truck tine or the like during handling or transporting of an individual pallet construction, the total of said struck-out portions used in all of said legs comprising at least a major portion of the number of struck-out portions produced during the forming of all of said aperture means, and said aperture means having a combined area at least equal to a substantial portion of the planar member overall area.
 9. A pallet construction comprising a planar member forming a load receiving plate of predetermined thickness, a plurality of discrete aperture means of predetermined number formed in said planar member in a first predetermined pattern substantially throughout the entire central portion thereof and presenting a plurality of apertures within and adjacent the periphery of the planar member in a predetermined generally peripheral pattern and leaving discrete imperforate portions adjacent the periphery of the planar member, a plurality of solid struck-out portions sawed from a planar member upon the forming of said aperture means and having a diameter substantially less than a corresponding diameter of the aperture means, said struck-out portions being stacked in groups comprising at least several of said struck-out portions, each of said groups providing a solid cylindrical leg of generally uniform diameter corresponding to the diameter of said struck-out portions, and all of said legs being secured to an undersize of said planar member in a second predetermined pattern for permissive alignment with certain apertures in said first pattern and insertion therethrough when stacking pallet constructions for storage or shipment with adjacent planar members in surface contact and the solid legs of each planar member offset with respect to the other and projecting in the same dirction therefrom, each of said legs having a length for providing sufficient clearance beneath the planar member to permit entry into the clearance of a fork-lift truck tine or the like during handling or transport of an individual pallet construction, the total of said struck-out portions used in all of said legs equalling at least a major portion of the number of the struck-out portions produced during the forming of all of said aperture means. 